Customs exemption for imported cranes upheld where specific certificates satisfied project-use and five-year conditions

Customs exemption under Notification No. 220/90-Cus. depended on certification that the imported machinery had been used in the project for at least five years. For the cranes, the Chartered Engineer's certificate and confirming telex identified the equipment by chassis and engine numbers and stated that the cranes had been used in the Baghdad project for more than five years and had residual life beyond five years. Because no specific objection was raised to those crane certificates, doubts relating to excavator certificates could not be extended to the cranes. The exemption for the cranes was therefore upheld and the Revenue's challenge failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to benefit of Notification No. 220/90-Cus. in respect of the imported cranes on the basis of the Chartered Engineer's certificate and related telex, and whether doubts raised against certificates relating to excavators could be extended to the cranes.

Analysis: Notification No. 220/90-Cus. grants partial exemption subject to certification by the competent authority and a Chartered Engineer that the machinery had been used in the project for not less than five years. The Joint Secretary's certificate was not in dispute. In respect of the cranes, the record contained a Chartered Engineer's certificate and a confirming telex, both identifying the chassis and engine numbers and stating that the cranes had residual life of over five years and had been used in the Baghdad project for more than five years. The adverse inference drawn against the excavators could not automatically be imported to the cranes when no doubts had been raised against the crane certificates by the adjudicating authority.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to the exemption for the cranes and the Revenue's challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The exemption claimed for the cranes was upheld and the Revenue appeal was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Eligibility under an exemption notification must be tested on the evidence specific to the goods in question, and suspicion regarding one set of certificates does not justify disallowance where the relevant certificates for the other goods are unchallenged and otherwise satisfy the notification conditions.

---